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TRW Creates New Global Product Line

6 November 1997

TRW Creates New Global Product Line, Appoints Handysides to Direct Electrically Assisted Steering Program

    STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., Nov. 6 -- To drive the rapid growth
of its Electrically Assisted Steering (EAS) business, TRW's Steering,
Suspension & Engine Group (SS&EG) has created a separate EAS global product
line and has appointed 23-year TRW veteran James A. Handysides as Vice
President and General Manager, Electrically Assisted Steering.
    In his new position, Handysides will be responsible for directing program
activities for the EAS family of products -- currently offering Electrically
Powered Hydraulic Steering (EPHS) and Electrically Powered Steering (EPS)
systems -- and related technical center activities in North America, Europe
and Asia.
    Based at the company's Sterling Heights, Mich. facility, Handysides will
report directly to Bernd Blankenstein, Executive Vice President and General
Manager, TRW SS&EG.  He replaces R. Gordon Williams, who has retired.
    Most recently, Handysides served as Vice President and General Manager of
TRW's Rack & Pinion Division (RPD) in Rogersville, Tenn.  Prior to this, he
was Vice President and General Manager of the Linkage and Suspension Division
in St. Catharines, Ontario.  He joined TRW in 1973 and has served in positions
of increasing responsibility, including general superintendent of the Linkage
and Suspension Division plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., operations manager
for TRW's RPD facility in Greenville, N.C., and operations director for RPD.
    Handysides earned an electrical engineering degree from Wayne State
University (Detroit) and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers
and the Engineering Society of Detroit.

    EAS GROWTH

    The EAS offering -- which previously was part of TRW SS&EG's Passenger Car
Steering Systems -- becomes the group's fifth global product line, joining
Passenger Car Steering Systems, Linkage & Suspension Systems, Commercial
Steering Systems and Engine Components.  Together, the TRW Steering,
Suspension & Engine Group operates 68 facilities in 21 countries.
    TRW's innovative EAS systems are modular, ready-to-install units that
provide automakers and consumers with significant performance and economic
advantages not found in conventional steering systems.  The company is
currently supplying EAS systems for Ford and Chrysler electric vehicles in
North America and has secured a European contract to supply the technology in
1998.  TRW also is conducting development work with automakers in Japan and
Europe and is pursuing other customer applications around the globe.
    The global automotive supplier expects to ramp up EAS into high-volume
production for model year 2000 or 2001, starting in Europe and spreading
rapidly into other markets.  By 2010, TRW estimates that one out of every
three cars produced in the world will be equipped with some form of
electrically assisted steering.
    TRW is the world's largest independent manufacturer of rack-and-pinion
steering gears, integral power-steering gears, steering linkage and suspension
ball joints.  TRW Steering & Suspension Systems has regional centers for North
and South America in Sterling Heights, Mich., for Europe in Dusseldorf,
Germany, and for the Asia/Pacific region in Kasugai City, Japan.
    With 137 facilities and operations in 26 countries, TRW is one
of the largest independent OEM automotive suppliers in the world.  In 1996,
the company's automotive businesses recorded sales of $6.5 billion, over
65 percent of TRW's total $10 billion in sales.  Based in Cleveland, Ohio, TRW
also provides advanced technology products and services for space and defense
markets worldwide.

SOURCE  TRW